Machine for armoring cables.



G. E. MiRFIELD @n H. NMLLVlYERn MACHINE FORARMOIHNG CABLES.

APPLlcATloN FILED JULY l. |915.

@ mama ,me 12, w17.

4 sHEETs-sHEET 1. @l if 21 G. E. MIRFIELD & F. H. NULLNIEYER.

MACHINE FOR ARMORING CABLES.

APPLmATloN FILED JULY x. 1915.

1,230,008. Patented June 12, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Geom E. Mirfi/e,

L. v ran/z Z1'. Mal/meyer j@ es.

'G. E. MIRFIELD I F. H. NULLMEYER.

MACHINE FOR ARMORING CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED IuLY I. I9I5.

1,230,008., Imenfed June I2, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

75# wil?? FIELD and FRANK H. NUiLMEYER, citizens cable for the purposeof inclosing the same land protecting it.

leo

' receiving reel to allow of a greater or turesv of construction GEORGEE. MIRFILID ANDFRANK H. NULLMEYER, F YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNORS, BYMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE YOUNGSTOWN SHEET AND TUBE COMPANY, OFYOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, .A CORPORATION 0F OHIO. y

MACHINE FOB ABMOBNG CABLES.

Patented June f1.2, 1217.

.application led July 1, 191'5. Serial No. 37,536.

Fig. is a detail of the means for applying friction to certain portionsof the mechanism for driving the receiving reel;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side view of the gear connection for rotating thereceiving reel; line 7--7 of Fig. 6;

1,230g9 Specification of Letters Patent.

To all 'it may concern.' A v Be it known that we, GEORGE E. MLR- of theUnited States,

residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and use- Fig. 7 is a section on fulimprovements in Machines for Armor- Fig. 8 is a side view on an enlargedscale ing Cables, of which the following is a of the feeding rolls forthe wire and the specication. dies for coiling the wire together withthe The present invention relates to a machine means for driving thefeed rolls; and

Fig.v 9 is a section taken on line 9-9 of for placing coils of wirearound an electric y Fig. 8, looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the art to which the present invention One of the objects of theinvention is to provide a machine in which the cable will be movedlongitudinally andA at the same time given rotary movement about itslongitudinal axis.

A further object of the invention is to rprovide means for feeding wiresinto position to wrap around the cable while' the cable is being fedthrough the machine.

A' further object of the invention is, to provide an upper or supplydrum and a lower or receiving drum for the cable, and to revolve thesedrums, about their axes and also give to them a rotary movement about acenter at right angles to their axes.

A further obect of the invention is to provide means or enabling aslippage between the lower or'receiving drum and the means for rotatingthe same in accordance with the amount of material wound thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide means which can beactuated "by the operator for varying the friction or tension uponcertain of the operating parts of 1the ess slippage of the reel withrespect to the meansfor driving it. v

The invention further consistsyfin the feaand comation of partshereinafter described and; claimed.

In 4the drawings: f Figure 1 is a side view the'present invention; Fig.,2 is a face view Fig. 1;

ig. 3 is a plan viewv of said machine; Fig. 4 is a section on lineLi---Llvof Fig. 1,

looking in the direction of e arrows;

ofthe machine of of the parts shown in by the operation of the machine,

the supp relates,the object to be accomplished yby' machines of thistype is to coil a double layer of wire about a cable Vwith the outerlayer breakin joints with the inner layer. ln the mac ine of the presentinvention a double ceiling of the wire is e'ected; that is to say, twowires simultaneously coiled for the inner layer and two wiressimultaneously coiled for the outer layer. This is to add strength tothe complete product. ln carrying out the purpose'to be accomplished thecable is rotated about its longitudinal center in place of the dies andwire feeding mechanism being rotated about the cable.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein is shown one form of machinemadeain accordance with the present invention, sai machine consists of aframe 10 of any suitable construction, and the main portions of themachine, speaking in a general sense, are an upper reel 11, which may betermed y' reel,a lower reel 12, which may be termed the receiving rollsreferred to generally as the feed mechanism 13, and a series of diemembers referred to generally as the die mechanism 14. The upper reel 11is composed of the usual reel member mounted to revolve within suitablebearings 15 on arms 15a of a frame or cage 16.' The frame is of U-shapedformation with a lower hub 17 mounted to revolve-in a suitable bearing18, and attached to this hub is a gear 19, meshing with a gear 20, whichlatter gear is revolved by e bevel gear 21, with which meshes a bevegear 22, ona main drive shaft 23, and

reel, a series of feed drive` shaft is operated by means of the usualfast and loose pulleys 24. As the shaft 23 1s revolved, through 'theinstrumentalities of the gears 22, 21, 20 and 19, the cage or frame V15is revolved and this, as will` be .understood from the drawings,revolves the reel 11 about a center extending at right angles to thecenter of the trunnions of the reel member which are mounted within thebearings .15. l

The gears 21 and 2O are lsecured to a verl tical shaft 25 upon the lowerend of which is a Agear 26 meshing with a gear 27. This latterv gear issecured to a shaft 28, which is connected to a hub or collar 29 on thelower portion of the frame 30, which frame carriesfthe lower'orreceiving reel 12. The r 12'isprovided with trunnions 31 whicharemounted to -revolve in bearings 32, in thearms 33 of the frame 30,and the upper ends of these arms revolve within a bearlng v34 secured tothe frame 10.

vThrough the instrumentalities of the shaft 25, geary 26, and gear 27,the frame 30, which' carries the reel 12, is revolved about a centerextending at right angles to the center of rotation of the trunnions'31. There isthus established a synchronized drive between thereels 11and reels 12 so that they are both simultaneously revolved about acenter extending at right an les to their center off-rotation. It is'thus olhvious that asthe cable passes from the supply .reel onto thereceiving' reel it isrevolved about its longitudinal center.

Means must be provided for. .pro erly driving the receiving reel 12 torevo ve it vabout thetrunnions 31 as a center of rotation, so that thecable may be drawn from the supply reel and wound onto the receivingreel by a' longitudinal movement through the machine.l The means whichare 'illustrated to accomplish this driving consists of a worm screw 35fastened tofa sleeve 36 which is mounted upon the shaft 28 and to thissleeve is connected or joined a grooved wheel 37. The jsleeve 36 and thegrooved wheel 37I arel aiiixed to the shaft 28 with a tight t so that.under normal conditions they revolve simultaneously with saidshaft,

but in case ofthe .coil of cable uponthe re- 'ceiving reel becoming solar e that each revelution of they receiving ree takes up more cablethan can be covered by the wires being co1l of cable upon t wind thecable thereon applied thereto, .then a slippage'results betweenthe'vshaft 28 andtrooved wheel 87 so can be wrapped about the same,

the cable through the machine with proper speed atl the start of theoperation of the machine, it will *obviously increase the.

amount of cable. pulled through as the coil of cablev upon the receivingreel grows through the machine at times yin theoperation thereof, willbe faster than'the wires thereby producing an inefficient product.Transmission of the power from the screw 35 tothe trunnions 31 iseffected by a worm gear '38 mounted on astub shaft 39, (see Fig. 6),which stub vshaft lcarries a bevel gearl40, meshing with abevel gear 41,secured onto a vertical 'shaft 42, on the upperi end of which shaft isabevel 43, meshin with a bevel 44, secured to the trunnions 1|.

It is desired that the operator have it within his power to increase thefr i tion or binding engagement on the groove wheel 37 to place africtional retarding orce on said wheel and to withhold it against itstendency to rotate with the shaft 28 and by such retarding force createa slippage be tween the shaft and the wheel. struction'shown a band 45is placed in the groove of the wheel 37 ,which band is connected to `acable 46, secured around astub shaft or trunnion v47, whichv in turn isoined to an arm 48, and this army is connected to` a cable 49 Secured toadrum 50,'which drum' maybe turned through any suitable means bly theoperator. As the drum50 is turned' t e cable 49 isl drawn` upwardraising the arm'48, revolvingthe trunnion 47, winding up the cable 46,which places a. tension upon the strap 45 which creates a friction vonthe In the congrooved wheel 37. thereby exerting -a re- Y tarding forcelon this wheel and ,the .gear

35, so that slippage is brought about between the wheel 37, gear 35. andthe shaft 28.

The foregoing describes the means of 'feeding the cable through themachine and turning it about its axis during such feeding movement. Thearmor laid on the cable comprises inner wires 51 and outerwires 52,which, as stated in the preamble of the specification, areffedinto themachine. in duplicate so as to make a double wrapping of both the innerand outer layers of wlres. i

The wires 51 are fed into rolls 53, while the wires 52 are fedv in byfeed rolls 54 and 55. These latter feed rolls also act as die -membersto attenone side ofthe wire prior to its application onto the cable. oThe wires are forced through a guiding block 56 and into engagement withthe grooved surfaces of 'rotatable die members 57, of which in theconstruction shown there are three. Each die member is formed with'an uper grooved surface 58 and a lower groove surface 59, the former positionby feed 1,aso,ooe l effecting a turning of the inner wires and thelatter a turning pf the outer wires. The cable 60, as shown, passescentrally of the dies 57 that is the outer periphery of each die isspaced apart a distance from the peripherybf the cable, the dies beinggrouped or arranged centrally about the cable.

As the'wire isforced into engagement with the grooved surface of thedies, it is bent into spiral formation by moving from one die onto theother, and by revolvmg the cable as it passes downward, the wires arewrapped or coiled about it; the inner Awires being ir'st laid vand theouter wires l next laid, with said outer wires breaking joints withtheturns orwraps of the inner wire. This feed mechanism and die mechanismis now known in the art, and is not claimed as a portion of the presentInvention.

As showing a means for driving the feed rolls, I provide a gear 61 whichisaiiixed to the shaft 25. This gear meshes with a gear 62 fixed on astub shaft 63. Mounted on'said stub shaft is a pinion 64 meshing with agear 65 on a stub shaft 66. On this latter shaft is mounted a gear 67meshing with a gear 68 which meshes with a gear 69. The gear 69 ismounted co-axially with a gear 70 which meshes with a gear 70a c011-nected to a shaft 71, on which the feed roll 54 is mounted. The gear 67also meshes with a gear 72 which is connected to a shaft 73, on whichthe feed roll 55 is mounted. The gear 67 also meshes with a gear 74which meshes with a gear 75. This gear 75 meshes with a gear 76 securedto a shaft 77, upon which is mounted the feed roll 53. This method ofdriving will be understood from Figs. 8 and 9, and as shown in Fig. 8,there is both an upper and lower set 'of gears for driving the shafts71, 73, and 77. This, however, is merely to increase the driving powerof the gearing. There are also feed rolls complementary to the rolls 53,54, and 55 mounted on the shafts 66, 66, and 66, respectively. Nopositive means are provided.l for rotating the die members 57, thesebeing rotated by the forcing of the wire into engagement therewith. Theoperation is thought to be clear from the foregoing, but brieily is asfollows: The

cable is coiled upon the supply reel. One end is pulled down and aliixedto the receiving reel. The machine is started and the reels are revolvedabout their respective trunnions as centers, causing the cable to passfrom the supply reel onto the receiving reel, which gives the cable thelongitudinal movement through the machine; and at the same time thesupply reel and receiving reel are revolved simultaneously at rightangles to their center of revolution, so as to give the cable a turningmovement about its longitudinal center as it is fed through coperatingwith the produced between said mechanism and reel of the machineprogresses, fricinsuring a proper and uniform feed of the v cablethrough the machine at', all periods of the operation.

We claim: v

1. In a cable armoring machine, the combination of two frames arrangedto revolve about a common axis, a shaft on which` each frame is mounted,means connectedl with each shaft for lrevolving the frames in unison, acable supply reel mounted in one frame and a cable receiving reelmounted in the other, each reel being arranged to revolve in its frameabout an axis'at right angles to the frame axes, whereby the cable isrevolved as .it passes from one reel tothe other, means for revolvingthe receiving reel about its axis at variable speeds, and means to thecable at a fixed speed relative to the revolving speed of the cable, theengagement ofthe armor with the cable serving to' control the feedingmovement of the cableto a fixed speed relative to its revolving speed,substantially as described.

2. In a cable armoring machine, the combination of two rotatable reels,one yfor supplying and the other for receiving cable, means for turningthe said reels about an axis perpendicular to their axes of rotation,whereby the cable is revolved as it is fed, and means connected with thereel turning means for armoring the cable, the said means armor tocontrol the feedingy movement of the cable to a fixed speed relative toits speed of rotation, substantially as described.

3. In a cable armoring machine, a receiving reel, a frame within whichthe reel is rotatably held, a rotatable shaft secured to the frame, andmeans for causing the reel to be rotated within the frame at variablespeeds,` comprising a `transmission shaft carried by the yreel frame,bevel gears connecting one end of the transmission shaft withl the reel,a worm and gear, the former frictionally held, connecting the other endof the transmission shaft with the frame shaft, and pawl mechanism forapplying friction to the frictionally held worm t0 retard its movementas desired, whereby the receiving reel may be revolved at variablespeeds, substantially as described.

iis

4; In a cable armoring machine, the combination of cable supply andreceiving reels, mountings for the reels, means for rotating saidmountings at equal speeds to impart a rotating'movement to the cablepassing between them, means for imparting a winding tension to thereceiving reel to take up the completed productA as it is delivered,means for feeding an armor onto the cable in helical formation, andpower transmission for 10 operating the armor feeding means at a speedcommensurate with the rotation of the cable, substantially as described.

GEORGE E. MRFIELD. FRANK H. NULLMEYER. Witnesses:

GEO. L. MIEDING, M. E. LANenoWNE.

